Encouraging Movement on Regional Police

Since I  in favor of regional policing, there has been some encouraging movement on the issue, along with some predictable setbacks.

 Last week, Nazareth Borough Council voted unanimously to negotiate a contract with the Colonial Regional Police Department, which covers Hanover Township, Lower Nazareth Township, Bath Borough and Chapman Borough. 

While it's not a done deal, and many thorny issues have yet to be resolved, the vote was a brave step forward for Nazareth. This is the kind of creative leadership and (literally!) outside-the-box thinking that we need to see more of from local government during these these tough economic times.

 If you look at the map of the areas served by Colonial Regional, you'll see that officers necessarily have to drive through parts of Nazareth, Upper Nazareth and East Allen to get to Chapman and Bath. It would make a lot of sense for all three of these governments to contract for coverage from the regional force. 

 I also think joining Colonial Regional would be a good move for the whole northwestern corner of Nortampton County - Hanover, Bushkill, Moore, Allen, East Allen, Northampton, North Catasauqua and Walnutport.

 One of the political problems with this idea is that some municipalities like Allen, East Allen, Upper Mount Bethel and Lower Mount Bethel currently aren't paying for police at all, and rely on the state police highway patrols for their local policing needs. But the tax increases that would be necessary to form a police department are unpopular with voters.

 The townships without local police aren't just low-density rural areas. Over in Lehigh County, wealthy Lower Macungie is also mooching off the state police, and is only now considering forming a department or contracting with neighboring governments for police services.

 The two best bargains for Lower Macungie would be to form a regional police department with Allentown and the rest of the southeastern corner of Lehigh County, or to contract with the Berks-Lehigh Regional Police who serve neighboring Upper Macungie.

 While some places are loathe to pay for any police services at all, others fret that joining a regional department might leave them with fewer officers.

 The typical objections to bigger departments are frequently stated in emotional terms, like worries that being part of a larger department would change the community's character. I think these worries are overblown, but even if they weren't, tradition needs to be balanced against the more important goal of controlling crime.

Indeed, there are   to believe that larger regional police departments would provide better crime control at a lower cost, because they are better suited to the economics of deterrence. 

While my view is that a county-wide police department would be ideal, I can understand why people like the idea of a police force that's closer to the community. A sensible compromise plan for Northampton County might be to divide up the map into 4 sections - a Northwestern department, a Northeastern department, and Greater Bethlehem and Greater Easton departments. This would also ensure that the cities are benefitting from the growth in their suburbs.

 But the toughest political obstacle of all may be the large mismatch in political incentives. Voters have a strong status quo bias - if a new idea hasn't been tried before, it's easy to find a lot of people who prefer the "devil you know." 

On any given issue, you can expect the political constituency for keeping things the same to be a lot louder and more determined than the people who think change is desirable, but aren't so motivated that they'll go out and organize for it.

 Left to their own devices, politicians are often all too happy to drag their feet, and engage in the predictable turf wars and fiefdom politics. That's what's happening in Wind Gap, where Council President and Northampton County Council candidate Scott Parsons has been unsuccessfully pursuing a regional police department with Plainfield Township and Pen Argyl.

 The talks have broken down due to a lack of interest from Plainfield and Pen Argyl, and you may not be surprised to learn that the sticking point is something as petty as whose police chief gets to be in charge. 

There's no good reason this issue couldn't be resolved by creating up a hiring committee to interview all the applicants to see who's most qualified, but in the absence of voter pressure, it's too easy for the negotiators to walk away from the table.

 People who are really interested in getting to "yes" can usually work out a sensible compromise if they're actually interested in reaching a deal. Likewise, you can tell who's not interested in reaching a deal because they draw hard lines in the sand early in the process. This feels more like the latter.

This is why the Nazareth vote is so significant. Politicians may face bad political incentives on this issue, but that doesn't mean they don't have lots of room to do the right thing. Lehigh Valley residents would be better served if their elected officials approached politics like Nazareth mayor Fred Daugherty:

“If it’s unpopular, with certain folks, so be it. I’m willing to live with that, I am doing the job I was elected to do.”